The World Cup Top 8 battle is about to ignite, and the old rivals of Holland and Argentina will fight for the qualification to the quarterfinals. This year's Dutch team is short on stars, but the soul of the team, 71-year-old leader Younger, is a unique sight. He has led the team to the World Cup 11 times, of which 8 wins and 3 draws undefeated record is remarkable. It is worth mentioning that Argentina has never won in five World Cup meetings with the Netherlands in legal time, but eight years ago the two sides eliminated the Netherlands in a penalty shootout. It will be interesting to see if history repeats itself in this World Cup.
Younger had led the Netherlands to a third-place finish in 2014, a year in which they won four consecutive matches from the group stage to the round of 16, eliminated Costa Rica on penalties in the round of 8, and battled Argentina for 120 minutes in the semifinals to a 0-0 tie before losing on penalties. The Netherlands beat Brazil in the third-place game, and so far in this World Cup, the Dutch have won five and drawn two in legal time. Now that Younger is back at the helm of the Netherlands, he has three wins and a draw in four matches, which means Younger has yet to lose a World Cup match in official time.
The Netherlands' opponent in the last eight is Argentina, the favorite to win the championship. The two teams have met five times in the World Cup, with the Netherlands maintaining an undefeated record of two wins and three draws in legal time. However, Argentina is not a "soft touch", they have twice advanced through extra time and penalties in the knockout rounds, most recently in the semifinals of the 2014 World Cup, where Lionel Messi scored for Argentina in a penalty shootout to knock out the Younger-led Dutch.
